19 Years of Blogging - Anniversary - February 2023

Posted by on

Today marks 19 years of blogging.  My very first blog post - basically a 'testing, testing' post was published on February 16, 2004.  Nineteen years feels like a really long time.  Actually...it IS a really long time.  Doing anything for nineteen years is a huge swath of time and covers close to half of my entire life.  Next year - the 20th year - feels more significant because of the 20-year-number, but nineteen gives me a chance to really reflect on the length of time I've been at it.

This past year, I continued my trend of writing one-post-per day (365 posts) and crossed my 4,000th published post back in April.  

Although the idea of publishing something online in your own venue has fallen out of favor since I fell in love with blogging back in the aughts, there has been a tiny little bump in interest recently as more people have thought about/taken the plunge to get back into blogging.  Why?  Seems a lot of the interest (or re-interest) is tied to the changes that are taking place on Twitter.  

I've maintained that writing posts at my own domain gives me a lot of freedom to explore topics of interest to me and the ability to control the home of that content thanks to data portability.   I'm sure there a untold number of fellow bloggers that have been at it for close to 20 years, but their visibility has surely dropped in favor of the platforms. 

Here's the Google Trends chart showing interest dropping since 2004 (when I started), but having little pops here and there.



What's the nineteenth year hold for me?  

More of the same.  Garden diary posts.  Disney posts.  And, writing not in service of reaching and growing an engaged audience.  But, rather...to keep the muscle from atrophy.   Sit down and post.  Every single day.  That's a way to put off the decline in body and mind.  

Here's some of the 'anniversary posts' that I've done over the years.  It seems that I skipped 2022 (18 year mark):

2022 - No Anniversary post, but 4K posts published
2021 - 17 year Blogging Anniversary
2020 - 16 year Blogging Anniversary
2019 - 15 year Blogging Anniversary
2016 - 12 year Blogging Anniversary
2014 - 10 year Blogging Anniversary
2013 - 9 year Blogging Anniversary
2011 - 7 year Blogging Anniversary

Comments

Post a Comment

Be nice to each other here.

Popular posts from this blog

A Multimeter - Workshop Addition

Posted by on
Image
My father-in-law gifted me this Sears Craftsman 8-function Multimeter for Christmas and I've just gotten around to unboxing it and finding it's permanent home in my shop.  I wasn't quite sure what to do with a multimeter (or multi-meter as it is sometimes spelled), but Nat's Dad also sent along with CNET piece that explains all that this tool can do .   Here's the list: 1.  Test batteries 2.  Check extension cords 3.  Determine the life of lightbulbs 4.  Identify the 'hot' wire 5.  Find bad switches So...turns out, it wasn't all bird stuff at Christmas this year, right?!?
Read more

Lou Malnati's Salad Dressing Recipe as Published in the 60's

Posted by on
Image
Earlier this winter, I wrote about the old Lou Malnati's menu and mentioned that as I was waiting around for my pie to finish up, I spied an old Chicago Tribune article posted on the wall that included the original Lou Malnati's Italian Salad Dressing Recipe.  The Tribune reporter called it "prized".  We were set to host a little pizza party over the weekend, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Here's the article as seen through my mobile phone's camera. I'm not a wine drinker, so the fact that the recipe called for Burgundy wine didn't strike me as odd.  I went shopping at Angelo Caputos in Addison - a really incredible shopping experience - and when I got to the wine section I found Burgundy wine was carried ONLY in those HUGE jugs.  And they were dirt cheap.  The only issue is that needed just 4 ounces.  We ended up with a whole-lotta-wine that Nat won't drink. I've taken the recipe and modified it a bit by eliminating the percentage
Read more

Frans Fontaine Hornbeam Planted - Hedgerow Spring 2018

Posted by on
Image
Yesterday, I shared a photo of our eight Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam 2.5" caliper trees that had been delivered .  These trees were a long-time coming and we've been planning, talking and thinking about them for almost a year.  Today, the trees went in!  Here's the guys digging the holes and placing the trees in the holes to check for placement and spacing.  We ended up going with six feet of spread between each one and 30" away from the fence. You can tell from the photo above that they are going into a low spot and that our neighbor's to the north truck and garage are pretty visible (right now) from the top of our property. Here's three of the eight placed in their holes.  Once we were all happy with the placement, the burlap and rope were removed (well...the bottom of the burlap was left on because our landscaper prefers to keep the rootball intact, but the top of the burlap was cut off and all the rope was removed) and these trees were stuck ba
Read more